Renault, production speed and collaboration with China save the day

Design and build cars faster and continue to invest in heat engines. Two fundamental characteristics if you want to continue to be competitive in the increasingly complicated world of cars. As in the case of the Renault Group, which closed 2025 with revenues up 3% to 57.9 billion. What does faster mean? Goodbye to the traditional 48-60 months to go from white paper to the car on the road, with lead times down to 18 months thanks to leaner procedures, faster software development, less use of external suppliers and above all a shorter decision-making chain. Speed has become one of the added values of the Chinese automotive industry, with design, development and market arrival times that are difficult to apply in Europe. Precisely for this reason, the Renault Group decided to literally get help, by their own admission, from a Chinese team for the development of the electric Twingo. Designed in Paris, it was developed in the ACDC (Advanced China Development Centre), Renault's electric car development centre in Shanghai by a predominantly local team. The time cut was automatic. In nine months, Twingo went from concept to prototype. In five months from prototype to pre-industrialisation. Also because, another fundamental decision, all styling solutions were made in-house, without recourse to external technical studies, and the development of components was possible without contracting external suppliers. All this brought the time to market down to two years. For comparison, it was four years for Clio 5 and Captur, three for Renault 5 and four for Scenic. The electric Twingo saw time cuts of 16 per cent in the design phase, 41 per cent in the concept phase, and 26 per cent in the pre-industrialisation phase.

Another added value of the Renault Group comes from its awareness of the importance of continuing to invest in thermal engines. And doing so in an economically sustainable way, as in the case of Horse Powertrain, born of the agreement between Renault Group, Geely and Aramco. The result of this collaboration is a hybrid petrol engine with record efficiency, christened the H12 Concept and capable of running on 100% pure renewable petrol thanks to shared development with Horse. Developed from the 1.2 three-cylinder HR12 already fitted in Dacia Duster and Bigster, it brings thermal efficiency to 44.2 per cent and fuel consumption 40 per cent lower than the average for European cars sold in 2023.

Among Horse's projects is the C15 unit, which simplifies the conversion of all-electric vehicles into extended range electrics. It is ultra-compact in size, being no bigger than a briefcase, with a 1,500 cc four-cylinder engine inside, plus a generator, inverter and cooling system. According to Horse, the C15 is designed to meet the Euro 7 standard and offers 95 horsepower in the aspirated version for cars in the B and C segments. For larger cars, however, a turbocharged version offering up to 163 horsepower is available. Horse also stated that the engine is capable of running on petrol, ethanol and methanol as well as synthetic fuels, thus confirming a multi-energy strategy that is increasingly necessary for global success.

In addition to the 'briefcase' engine, Horse has developed the Future Hybrid Concept system: it consists of a compact powertrain that integrates an internal combustion engine, an electric motor, and a transmission into a single compact unit that can be mounted on existing bev platforms. This system functions as a range extender for the existing battery and enables all-wheel drive in both electric and parallel hybrid modes. The system also changes production processes, because by combining the many components of a hybrid system into a single unit, it eliminates several pieces of equipment and many dedicated assembly steps. The point of this engine? To make all-electric born models attractive even in markets reluctant to transition.